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E-Mail Delivers Cultures To Classroom

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

Patrick Chiari and fellow students in a cultural exchange class at Schrader Elementary School build model alternative energy powered houses as they study global warming. In the background, Jocelyn Maldonado, 11, left, Caitlyn Brodil, 10, and Joy Zhang, 11, work on their model houses. The group of fifth graders also e-mail other students from around the world, exchanging ideas through a teacher-monitored account.

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: January 16, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - The school day would not start for another hour at Schrader Elementary, but seven students already were signing on to computers to learn a little more about their place in the global scheme of things.

The students are part of a voluntary cultural exchange class overseen by Stephanie Bennett, the school's math-science resource teacher.

Using an Internet forum called ePals, they swap messages with children from around the globe, learning about life in other countries and sharing what their lives here are like.

"It's fun e-mailing kids around the world," said Patrick Blum, 10, a fifth-grader.

The students gather one hour before school starts each Tuesday and Thursday.

Bennett is hoping the program, which began in October, will help the students understand their place in the world and their responsibility to it, especially since they will be working in a global economy when they grow up.

One important lesson the students learned is they must write carefully and properly. Even children in other countries who understand English don't always understand American slang.

Some lessons have been tough ones. Bennett said her students were amazed to learn that many children elsewhere in the world dislike American children, often because of misconceptions drawn from American television shows featuring characters who are rich and spoiled.

The Schrader students are doing their part to dispel those misconceptions.

Bennett encourages the children to research their facts before they spout off an opinion. She also said ePals is carefully monitored. All the students' messages are filtered through her before they are sent.

The students do more than exchange ideas with their foreign peers. Before the winter break, they finished creating a model Russian village. Now they are working on a model of a futuristic community that uses alternative energy sources such as solar and wind.

All the students in the cultural exchange class are there voluntarily. The criteria for participating: a willingness to read and write and do what it takes to be good student ambassadors.

Patrick Blum said he joined because the notion of communicating with children in other countries intrigued him. He also liked the idea of using Skype.

Skype is a computer program that allows a video chat over the Internet.

"They can speak to the other children and see the other children," Bennett said.

When the students use Skype, Bennett projects the image on a screen so they don't need to crowd around one small computer screen.

About 15 students are involved in Schrader's cultural exchange class. Seven were on hand Thursday morning. Present in addition to Patrick Blum were Jocelyn Maldonado, 11; Patrick Chiari, 11; Jaxten Schram, 10; Jonah Laird, 11; Caitlyn Brodil, 10; and Joy Zhang, 11.

Jocelyn said it has been fun learning about life in other countries. On Thursday, as she scanned the ePals student forums, Jocelyn found a topic that piqued her interest. A student in Australia was asking what languages the other students speak.

"I'm going to tell them I speak English and a little Spanish," Jocelyn said.

She also spied this forum topic: "Do you like eating chocolate?"

"Well, yeah," Jocelyn said.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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